It was learnt that the Sunday
tragedy, which occurred early in the evening, was a reprisal to the alleged
killing of a villager by the dead policeman.
According to a witness, trouble
started when the dead officer and his colleagues were invited to the scene of a
fight to arrest one of the parties, who had inflicted grave injury on his
opponent, but he resisted arrest. The witness said the ensuing commotion
attracted a crowd that joined the offender to resist arrest and in the process,
the dead policeman allegedly shot and killed another man apparently in self
defence.
The crowd was said to have been
enraged by the killing and pounced on the trigger-happy cop and lynched him
instantly, while his colleague was beaten to pulp.
The state Police Public Relations
Officer, PPRO, Ebele Amarizu, confirmed the incident, but said he had only
scanty information on the killing.
He said: ‘I am yet to be
briefed properly on the incident; I don’t want to tell you what I will regret
later.”
The names of the policemen and
the dead civilian involved in the tragedy could not be ascertained at press
time.